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Nigeria resumed on Monday the trial of a separatist who was brought back to the country under controversial circumstances, but the case was quickly adjourned due to his absence from court.
Reinforced security was deployed in front of the federal high court in the capital Abuja for the case of Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), an illegal movement that campaigns for a separate state of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria.
The government said last month that Kanu had been “brought” back to Nigeria for trial, but gave no details. His family and lawyers say he was taken to Kenya.
The case was quickly adjourned because Kanu “has not been brought to justice,” one of his lawyers, Aloy Ejimakor, told AFP.
Judge Binta Murtala-Nyako ruled that the trial could not begin without the presence of the accused and that the prosecution gave no valid reason for his absence, Ejimakor said.
“The case has been adjourned until October 21,” Ejimakor said.
Kanu, 53, was arrested in late 2015 after asking for a separate homeland for the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria.
In 2017, he jumped on bail, reappearing in Israel and Britain.
On June 29, the Nigerian Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, announced that Kanu had been “brought back to Nigeria to continue to stand trial after his disappearance”.
His charges include “terrorism, treason, running an illegal company, publishing libelous cases, illegal possession of firearms, and the improper importing of goods, among others,” said Malami.
Many journalists were barred from entering the courtroom on Monday, a move that was condemned as restrictive by rights groups.
“We call on the Nigerian authorities to respect the right to a fair trial, immediately lift the restriction and allow the media unhindered access to court to do their work,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Kanu supporters were outside the courtroom, including human rights activist Omoyele Sowore who has been temporarily detained by police, an AFP journalist reported at the scene.
The world was stunned by the images of starving children during the Biafran civil war. By – (AFP) Calls for a separate state from Biafra are a hot topic in Nigeria, after a unilateral declaration of independence in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war.
Over a million people have died, mostly Igbos, from conflict, hunger and disease.
Yoruba separatist
Separatist unrest is just one of the challenges President Muhammadu Buhari’s government faces ahead of the 2023 elections.
Another activist, Sunday Igboho, who campaigns for the independence of the Yoruba people of the southwest, was arrested last week at the airport in neighboring Benin, police and airport sources told AFP.
Igboho was due to be brought to justice on Monday in Cotonou, the commercial capital of Benin.
At least 50 people who support Igboho and the Yoruba separatist cause were outside the courtroom, an AFP reporter reported at the scene.
Igboho was on the run after a shooting that killed two of his men and weapons and ammunition were discovered at his home, the Nigeria Department of State Services intelligence agency said.
Igboho “will be extradited to Nigeria as soon as the two countries agree on the conditions,” said a senior Beninese police official, a second confirming the arrest.
A source at Cotonou Airport said he was arrested before boarding a flight to Germany.
Nigerian authorities did not immediately react when contacted by AFP.
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